Wireworm | CropWatch CropWatch Wireworm CLICK BEETLE (adult) and WIREWORM (larva) Wireworms are the larvae of many species in several genera called click beetles. Wireworms cause the damage not the adult click beetles. Since every geographic location has its own set of species, to know which wireworms are causing damage to potato, it is necessary to trap them and identify those in the potato field. An infested field will remain infested for three to six years and planting there should be avoided. Description Adults are slender beetles whose appearance varies greatly since many genera and species comprise the group called click beetles which produce wireworms. Larvae from click beetles are called wireworms and these are the damaging form of the insect. During the early stages lasting one to two years, wireworms are very small and white. Mature larvae lasting two to six years are hard-shelled with dark transverse bands along the length of their body. The body color is a shiny yellow to rust. There are six (three pairs) slender legs toward the head region. At the head, there is a pair of pincer-like protrusions.

Wireworms are 1/2 to an inch long at maturity and easily visible in traps and occasionally may be found in or hanging from a potato tuber. Eggs are laid and pupa are formed deep in the ground; eggs are laid in grassy areas. Life Cycle Adults (click beetles) are relatively common in the summer and are often attracted to lights at night. Their presence does not necessarily indicate future problems. They overwinter in survive in the soil for several months, overwintering, and emerge in the spring. Once mated, click beetles seek egg-laying sites in grassy areas which may be pastures or other sod areas. For this reason, wireworms, the larvae, are most likely to be a problem in fields that have recently been broken out of sod or grass crops. Click beetles also may seek to deposit eggs in areas of cultivated fields where grassy weeds are a problem or in cereal crops. Eggs hatch in a few days to weeks, and the larva or wireworm emerges. Wireworms emerge in the soil and may survive for two to six years.

In the winter, they survive about two feet deep and as the temperature worms move up through the ground to the top two to three inches of soil. Wireworms move up and down in the soil during the season depending on temperature. They prefer soil temperature to be 50 to 60oF. After wireworm achieve full maturity during the summer, they will pupate in the soil, and the pupae will transform into click beetles after a few days. Damage Wireworms, the larvae of click beetles, damage potato by feeding primarily on tubers. The damage appears as straight, round holes with smooth walls. It is not clear whether the wireworm feeding is due to a search for shelter or due to thirst and not actually eating. Early in the season around planting, wireworms may drill into seed tubers or seed-pieces thereby weakening them possibly resulting in secondary infection especially by soft rot, in reduced stands and in weakened young plants. Wireworms also can feed on young sprouts with the same results. During the season, although not common, wireworms could damage roots and underground stem. For potato, the major damage is later in the season when tubers are maturing after bulking.

Late-season damage will result when larvae feed on tubers causing feeding scars or feeding tunnels. The result of this feeding is reduced quality of the harvested tubers. Wireworm damage is most likely the result of feeding by larvae that are 2 or more years old. In most situations larvae of several ages can be found in an infested field. This does not affect seed production as seed vigor is not affected but the damage causes culling for the fresh market. In processing, potato chips will show gaps along the margin where the hole was located and likewise french fries will show the gap at their ends. Soil Sampling Wireworms would likely cause significant problems only in a proportion of a field. Even in those fields where they are present, wireworm damage may be spotty. Soil sampling and baiting are somewhat effective at determining if wireworms are present in fields to be planted to potato. Wet wheat flour or germinating wheat, barley or oat seeds can be used to attract wireworm larvae into buried bait stations. These pests seem to be attracted to fermenting grain seeds. Wireworms can be collected by sifting soil samples through window screen.

Sampling and baiting must be carried out when soil temperatures are 50 to 60oF to ensure that wireworms are active near the surface of the soil. Threshold levels have been released based on the number of bait traps with wireworms. Economic risk assessment are based on 3% of harvested tubers having wireworm holes. When baited traps have two to four wireworms on the average, the level is considered very high and the application of a chemical at planting is often recommended. If the traps have more than four wireworms, the level is considered extreme and the recommendation is not to plant potato in that field. A rough estimate is that an average of one wireworm per trap is equivalent to 20,000 wireworms per acre. Table. Risk of economic damage from wireworms: Economic damage is taken as 3% of tubers damaged at harvest.

Average number of wireworms per bait Risk of economic damage Click Beetles – Family Elateridae – North American Insects & Spiders Click Beetles – Family Elateridae Click Beetles – Family Elateridae Beetles in the family Elateridae are commonly called click beetles, elaters, skipjack, snapping, or spring beetles. They posess a mechanism by which they can violently launch temselves several inches into the air, a method they use to avoid predators and right themselves if they happen to fall on their backs. A spine on the prosternum can be snapped into a corresponding notch on the mesosternum, producing a violent “click” which can bounce the beetle into the air. There are about 7000 known species. Click beetles can be large and colorful, but most are small to medium-sized and dull brown or gray. The adults are typically nocturnal and phytophagous. Like many nocturnal insects, they are attracted by artificial lights, and in hot weather, they are prone to enter houses at night if doors or windows are left open. The larvae of a few species, called wireworms, can be serious agricultural pests of corn and other cereal grains.

Click beetles undergo complete metamorphosis: Egg – larvae (beetle larvae are called “grubs”) – pupa – adult. Some species of click beetle have larvae that have a hard shell, commonly called “wireworms.” These grubs can be serious agricultural pests, feeding as the do on the roots of plants (corn and other cereal grains are often attacked) during their 1-3 year portion of the life cycle. Wireworm larvae are hard, smooth, slender, wire-like worms varying from 2 to 1 inches in length when mature. They are a yellowish-white to a coppery color with three pairs of small, thin legs behind the head. The last body segment is forked or notched. Wireworms usually take three to four years to develop from the egg to an adult beetle. Most of this time is spent as a larva. Generations overlap, so larvae of all ages may be in the soil at the same time. Wireworm larvae and adults overwinter at least 9 to 24 inches deep in the soil. When soil temperatures reach 50 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit during the spring, larvae and adults move nearer the soil surface.

Adult females emerge from the soil, attract males to mate, then burrow back into the soil to lay eggs. Females can re-emerge and move to other sites where they burrow in and lay more eggs. This behavior results in spotty infestations throughout a field. Some wireworms prefer loose, light and well drained soils; others prefer low spots in fields where higher moisture and heavier clay soils are present. Larvae move up and down in the soil profile in response to temperature and moisture. After soil temperatures warm to 50 F, larvae feed within 6 inches of the soil surface. When soil temperatures become too hot (>80 F) or dry, larvae will move deeper into the soil to seek more favorable conditions. Wireworms inflict most of their damage in the early spring when they are near the soil surface. During the summer months the larvae move deeper into the soil. Later as soils cool, larvae may resume feeding nearer the surface, but the amount of injury varies with the crop. Wireworms pupate and the adult stage is spent within cells in the soil during the summer or fall of their final year. The adults remain in the soil until the following spring.

Wireworm infestations are more likely to develop where grasses, including grain crops, are growing. Crops susceptible to injury include small grains, corn, potatoes, sugar beets and vegetables. Legumes are less likely to be injured. Wireworms damage crops by feeding on the germinating seed or the young seedling. Damaged plants soon wilt and die, resulting in thin stands. Order Coleoptera: Beetles are the dominant form of life on earth: one of every five living species is a beetle. Coleoptera is the largest order in the animal kingdom, containing a third of all insect species. There are about 400,000 known species worldwide, ~30,000 of which live in North America. Beetles live in nearly every habitat, and for every kind of food, there’s probably a beetle species that eats it. OurVeggieGarden > Garden Care > Insects > Wireworm (Click Beetle) Wireworm (Click Beetle) These inch long, hard segmented-shell yellow, gray or reddish-brown worms are the larvae of beetles, normally voracious feeders of vegetable crops, eating the interior tissue of seeds and roots.

They resemble earthworms except for their hard segmented body, and feed entirely underground during their life cycle. Because we dont see them, wireworms are not usually suspected of the damage they do. They make winding tunnels through carrots, potatoes and beets, disfiguring them so badly that they are unfit to eat. Young plants can be completely destroyed by the worms and older ones can become stunted or be susceptible to diseases. There are about 350 species of wireworms in the USA and Canada. Adult Adult wireworms are called click beetles or skip jacks, are slightly over one half inch long, dark in color  usually brown - with strips on their sides. They get their name when the beetles attempt to right themselves after having fallen over on their backs. They fling themselves into the air, most often landing on their hard backs, causing a clicking sound, thus the name. It is believed that many adult click beetles do not feed, and most cannot fly well or long. Eggs Parent click beetles deposit small white eggs, just below the surface in early spring, preferring damp grassy or weedy areas. The larvae emerge about a week later, moving very little during their lifetimes.

Larvae The larvae of the click beetle is called a wireworm and can be yellow to dark reddish-brown, sometimes orange in color, an inch or so long with hard segmented bodies and three sets of legs attached just behind the head. The larvae emerge from eggs that are laid just below the soil surface and remain active feeders from between two to six years, depending upon which species of click beetle laid the eggs. Some larvae reach full growth in a year, while others may not mature for as long as six years. For this reason you will find wireworms of all sizes and ages existing in your garden at the same time. It appears that most of the damage is done in the second and later years of their lives. Pupa After the larvae have finished their life cycle (from two to six years in the larvae state), they form a pupa in the autum, overwinter until the next spring, and emerge as click beetle adults. The pupa appear to resemble embryonic beetles. Vegetables That Wireworms Like To Eat Bean seedlings BioKIDS - Kids' Inquiry of Diverse Species, Elateridae, click beetles: INFORMATION Skip directly to main content .

Kids' Inquiry of Diverse Species Elateridae What do they look like? Adult Click Beetles are long skinny beetles with grooves running down their wing covers. Most adult Click Beetles are 12-30 mm long, a few species get up to 45 mm. The front of their heads and the back end of their wing covers are rounded. Unlike most beetles, the connection between the first and second section of the thorax is flexible, they can move their heads and first pair of legs separately from the rest of the body. This lets them do the trick that they are named for. They can snap the two sections, making a loud click sound, and flipping themselves over if they are lying on their backs. Click Beetle larvae are long and shiny, with tough segmented bodies. They are sometimes called wireworms. Unlike mealworms (which are larvae of another family of beetles) click beetle mouth parts point straight forward. Other Physical Features 0.47 to 1.57 in Where do they live? Species of Click Beetles are found all around the world. There are over 900 species known from North America, and probably more that haven't been discovered yet.

Biogeographic Regions native What kind of habitat do they need? Adult Click Beetles are found on the ground, on plants, in decaying wood, or hiding under bark. Most Click Beetle larvae live in the soil, but some are found under bark, in decaying wood, and in moss. These kinds of beetles are found anywhere there is vegetation and soil, but are rare in deserts or flooded areas. These animals are found in the following types of habitat marsh How do they grow? Like all beetles, Click Beetles have complete metamorphosis. Adult females lay eggs. The young that hatch from the eggs are larvae that are long with shiny segments and no wings. Many species spend a year or more in the larval stage. Larvae transform into pupae, which look sort of like the adults but are a resting stage. Many beetle spend the winter as pupae, but most Click Beetles spend the winter as larvae or adults. Each pupa transforms into an adult after a few days or weeks. Development - Life Cycle metamorphosis How long do they live? Some species of Click Beetle can complete two generations in one year, but most take one or more years to become adults.

A few species that live in especially cold climates talk 3 or 4 years. How do they behave? In cool climates adult Click Beetles are active in the daytime, but when the weather is warmer they move more at night. Some of these beetles are atttracted to lights at night. Most species are solitary, but some are often found in groups. We don't know what they are doing together. Key Behaviors wireworm | beetle larva | Britannica.com beetle larva THIS IS A DIRECTORY PAGE. Britannica does not currently have an article on this topic. Alternative Title: Paraiulidae Learn about this topic in these articles: in click beetle Click beetle larvae have a hard exoskeleton and are known as wireworms because of their long, slender, cylindrical shape. They can be destructive plant pests, attacking seeds, plant roots, and underground stems. The larvae live in the soil from two to six years. The plowing of fields in the fall can cut open the pupal case and destroy the wireworms. If necessary, applications of appropriate...

in cereal farming: Insects The eggs of click beetles are laid in the soil, and the larvae, called wireworms, live underground for some years, feeding on the roots and stems of the young plants (particularly slow-growing plants). To combat such damage, chemical seed dressing is used together with nitrogenous fertilizers. Click Beetles, Family Elateridae Click Beetles, Family Elateridae Habits and Traits of Click Beetles Click beetle. Getty Images/Oxford Scientific/Jonathan Lewis By Debbie Hadley Updated November 29, 2016. Click beetles, as you might suspect, are named for the clicking sound they produce. These entertaining beetles belong to the family Elateridae. Description: Click beetles are usually black or brown, with some species bearing red or yellow markings. Most fall within the 12-30 mm range in length, though a few species can be considerably longer. They're easiest to recognize by shape: elongate, parallel-sided, with rounded front and hind ends. A click beetle's pronotum has pointed or spiny extensions at the posterior corners, which fit snugly around the elytra .

The antennae are almost always serrate in form, though some may be filiform or pectinate . Click beetle larvae are often called wireworms. They're slender and long, with shiny, tough segmented bodies. Wireworms can be differentiated from mealworms ( darkling beetle larvae) by examining the mouthparts. In the Elateridae, the larval mouthparts face forward. The eyed click beetle, Alaus oculatus, bears two enormous false eyespots on its pronotum, most likely to deter predators. continue reading below our video 10 Best Universities in the United States Classification: Family - Elateridae Diet: Adult click beetles feed on plants. Most larvae also feed on plants, but they tend to prefer newly planted seeds or plant roots, making them a pest of agricultural crops. Some click beetle larvae inhabit decomposing logs, where they hunt other insects. Life Cycle: Like all beetles, members of the family Elateridae undergo complete metamorphosis with four stages of development: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Females usually deposit eggs in the soil around the base of host plants.

Pupation occurs in the soil or under bark, or in some species in rotting wood. Overwintering occurs in the larval and adult stages. Special Adaptations and Defenses: When stranded on its back, a click beetle has an unusual way of righting itself to flee from danger. The juncture between the prothorax and mesothorax is flexible, enabling the click beetle to do a backbend of sorts. This movement allows a special peg, called the prosternal spine, to fit into a catch or hold between the middle pair of legs. Once the peg is secured in the hold, the click beetle suddenly straightens out its body, and the peg slips into a mesosternal groove with a loud click. This motion hurls the beetle into the air at a speed of roughly 8 feet per second! Some species in the tropics have a special light organ which they use to communicate with potential mates. The click beetle's light burns much brighter than that of its cousin, the firefly . Range and Distribution: Click beetles live throughout the world, in nearly every terrestrial habitat except for the most extreme montane and arctic environments.

Scientists have described over 10,000 species, including almost 1,000 in North America. Sources: Insects: Their Natural History and Diversity, by Stephen A. Marshall Borror and Delong's Introduction to the Study of Insects, 7th Edition, by Charles A. Triplehorn and Norman F. Johnson Click Beetles - Elateridae - Details - Encyclopedia of Life "Melanotus" redirects here. Melanotus can also refer to a genus of mushrooms now included in Deconica . This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in the German Wikipedia. (December 2013) Click [show] on the right to read important instructions before translating. View a machine-translated version of the German article. Google's machine translation is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.

After translating, {{Translated|de|Schnellkäfer}} must be added to the talk page to ensure copyright compliance . For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation . Lateral aspect of a typical member of the Elateridae. Just below the base of the wings the "clicking" apparatus is visible in silhouette, with the "peg" or "process" in contact with the raised slot or "cavity" into which it slips to force the impact when required Insects in the family Elateridae are commonly called click beetles (or "typical click beetles" to distinguish them from the related Cerophytidae and Eucnemidae ). Other names include elaters, snapping beetles, spring beetles or skipjacks. This family was defined by William Elford Leach (1790–1836) in 1815. They are a cosmopolitan beetle family characterized by the unusual click mechanism they possess. There are a few closely related families in which a few members have the same mechanism, but all elaterids can click.

A spine on the prosternum can be snapped into a corresponding notch on the mesosternum , producing a violent "click" that can bounce the beetle into the air. Clicking is mainly used to avoid predation, although it is also useful when the beetle is on its back and needs to right itself. There are about 9300 known species worldwide, [1] and 965 valid species in North America. [2] Contents 5 External links Description and ecology[ edit ] Click beetles can be large and colorful, but most are under 2 centimeters long and dull in coloration and patterning. The adults are typically nocturnal and phytophagous , but rarely of economic importance. On hot nights they may enter houses, but are not pests. Click beetle larvae , called wireworms, are usually saprophagous , living on dead organisms, but some species are serious agricultural pests, and others are active predators of other insect larvae. Some elaterid species are bioluminescent in both larval and adult form, such as those of the genus Pyrophorus . Larvae are slender, elongate, cylindrical or somewhat flattened, with relatively hard bodies, somewhat resembling mealworms .

The three pairs of legs on the thoracic segments are short and the last abdominal segment is, as is frequently the case in beetle larvae, directed downwards and may serve as a terminal proleg in some species. The ninth segment, the rearmost, is pointed in larvae of Agriotes , Dalopius and Melanotus , but is bifid due to a so-called caudal notch in Selatosomus (formerly Ctenicera), Limonius , Hypnoides and Athous species. [3] The dorsum of the ninth abdominal segment may also have sharp processes, such as in the Oestodini, including the genera Drapetes and Oestodes . Although some species complete their development in one year (e.g. Conoderus ), wireworms usually spend three or four years in the soil , feeding on decaying vegetation and the roots of plants, and often causing damage to agricultural crops such as potato , strawberry , corn , and wheat .

[4] [5] The subterranean habits of wireworms, their ability to quickly locate food by following carbon dioxide gradients produced by plant material in the soil, [6] and their remarkable ability to recover from illness induced by insecticide exposure (sometimes after many months), [7] make it hard to exterminate them once they have begun to attack a crop. Wireworms can pass easily through the soil on account of their shape and their propensity for following pre-existing burrows, [8] and can travel from plant to plant, thus injuring the roots of multiple plants within a short time. Methods for pest control include crop rotation and clearing the land of insects before sowing. Other subterranean creatures such as the leatherjacket grub of crane flies which have no legs, and geophilid centipedes , which may have over two hundred, are sometimes confounded with the six-legged wireworms. Click Beetle Problems? Get Rid of it Yourself, DIY Pest Control and Preventive Techniques Diet: Larva eats roots of plants. Adults feed on nectar from flowers. life span: Protection status: None Since their larvae (wireworms) make themselves real comfortable in your yard we must start there. Ready? 1.

Get you a pair of working gloves and start by removing everything in your yard that does not belong there. Anything that they may be using to hide, old tree logs or stumps, fire logs, old items that you have not gotten around to picking up, etc. The cleaner, neater and well maintained you keep your yard, patio and all around your house the hardest it will become for not only the click beetle, other beetles and most pests from making their way into your home. Time spent here is time well spent! 2. What about my lights? Since this beetle is attracted to your lights we have to make an improvement or perhaps a change. I have had great success by simply installing yellow bug lights. "Bug zappers" are a whole industry so choose yours depending on what part of the country you live. Yellow lights are the cheapest and easiest way to take care of most of your problems. Start there. 3. Sealing. Go around your home and seal every hole and other possible entry point. Don't forget the window sills, you might have to run to your hardware store to replace old and weak spots that are or could become entry points for bugs. 4.

Next, let's take care of the ones that have gotten past our defenses. These should get a medal, they have overcome everything you threw at them.. Impressive! ;) Now, simply go after them and throw them out, they don't bite and aren't dangerous. Always remember.. Every time you undertake the task of cleaning and good housekeeping you are not only closing the doors to one specific bug like the click beetle but to most of the bugs typical of the place where you live.. You are playing both offense and defense at the same time ;) Click Beetle Chemical Treatments and Pest Control Click Beetle If you are having a serious invasion of the click beetle it may be necessary to add a chemical barrier to strengthen your defenses. This must be done outside of the home, this is easily accomplished by the use of a residual chemical. Once in hand, apply it to the very lowest portion of your foundation all around your home. If you feel that won't be enough get yourself a residual-type granule. This should be dusted all around your home on the soil or ground portion of your yard in order to widen the perimeter and stop them way before they even get close to your walls.

Once you dust the residual-type granule it is necessary you add water in order to help it soak into the soil. Always keep in mind that you will not only be killing this beetle but other bugs as well, so make sure you read directions and follow them to the best of your ability. Similar Pages Larva | Article about larva by The Free Dictionary Larva | Article about larva by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Dictionary , Thesaurus , Medical , Acronyms , Wikipedia . larva, independent, immature animal that undergoes a profound change, or metamorphosis, to assume the typical adult form. Larvae occur in almost all of the animal phyla; because most are tiny or microscopic, they are rarely seen. They play diverse roles in the lives of animals. Motile larvae help to disseminate sessile, or sedentary, animals such as sponges sponge, common name for members of the aquatic animal phylum Porifera, and for the dried, processed skeletons of certain species used to hold water. Over 4,500 living species are known; they are found throughout the world, especially in shallow temperate waters. ..... Click the link for more information.

, oysters oyster, bivalve mollusk found in beds in shallow, warm waters of all oceans. The shell is made up of two valves, the upper one flat and the lower convex, with variable outlines and a rough outer surface. ..... Click the link for more information. , barnacles barnacle, common name of the sedentary crustacean animals constituting the infraclass Cirripedia. Barnacles are exclusively marine and are quite unlike any other crustacean because of the permanently attached, or sessile, mode of existence for which they are highly modified. ..... Click the link for more information. , or scale insects. Larvae of parasites may be dispersed by penetrating the skin of new hosts; other parasite larvae live in intermediate hosts that are normally eaten by the final host, in which the adult parasites develop. The larvae of other parasites live in and are dispersed by intermediate hosts such as mosquitoes mosquito , small, long-legged insect of the order Diptera, the true flies. The females of most species have piercing and sucking mouth parts and apparently they must feed at least once upon mammalian blood before their eggs can develop properly. ..... Click the link for more information.

, gnats gnat, common name for any one of a number of small, fragile-looking two-winged flies of the suborder Nematocera, order Diptera, which includes the families Tipulidae (crane flies), Bibionidae (hairflies), Ceratopogonidae (biting midges), Chironomidae (true midges), Cecidomyidae ..... Click the link for more information. , or leeches leech, predacious or parasitic annelid worm of the class Hirudinea, characterized by a cylindrical or slightly flattened body with suckers at either end for attaching to prey. ..... Click the link for more information. ; when the blood meals are taken from the final host, the parasite larvae are introduced into the blood or skin. Parasitic infections can often be reduced by eliminating the larval hosts. Vertebrate Larvae Among vertebrates vertebrate, any animal having a backbone or spinal column. Verbrates can be traced back to the Silurian period. In the adults of nearly all forms the backbone consists of a series of vertebrae. All vertebrates belong to the subphylum Vertebrata of the phylum Chordata. .....

Click the link for more information. a number of fishes fish, limbless aquatic vertebrate animal with fins and internal gills. Traditionally the living fish have been divided into three class: the primitive jawless fishes, or Agnatha; the cartilaginous (sharklike) fishes, or Chondrichthyes; and the bony fishes, or Osteichthyes. ..... Click the link for more information. pass through larval stages; the larva of the eel eel, common name for any fish in the order Anguilliformes, and characterized by a long snakelike body covered with minute scales embedded in the skin. Eels lack the hind pair of fins, adapting them for wriggling in the mud and through the crevices of reefs and rocky shores. ..... Click the link for more information. is interesting because it is flat and transparent. The tadpole, the familiar larva of the amphibian amphibian, in zoology, cold-blooded vertebrate animal of the class Amphibia.

There are three living orders of amphibians: the frogs and toads (order Anura, or Salientia), the salamanders and newts (order Urodela, or Caudata), and the caecilians, or limbless amphibians (order ..... Click the link for more information. , develops to a considerable size in the relatively hospitable aquatic environment before metamorphosis prepares it for an amphibious or terrestrial life as a frog frog, common name for an amphibian of the order Anura. Frogs are found all over the world, except in Antarctica. They require moisture and usually live in quiet freshwater or in the woods. Some frogs are highly aquatic, while others are better adapted to terrestrial habitats. ..... Click the link for more information. or toad toad, name applied to certain members of the amphibian order Anura, which also includes the frog. Although there is no clear-cut distinction between toads and frogs, the name toad ..... Click the link for more information. . Insect Larvae In some animals, especially insects insect, invertebrate animal of the class Insecta of the phylum Arthropoda.

Like other arthropods, an insect has a hard outer covering, or exoskeleton, a segmented body, and jointed legs. Adult insects typically have wings and are the only flying invertebrates. ..... Click the link for more information. , larvae represent a special feeding stage in the life cycle. Some insects pass through more or less wormlike larval stages, enter the outwardly inactive, or pupal, form, and emerge from the pupal case as adults (see pupa pupa , name for the third stage in the life of an insect that undergoes complete metamorphosis, i.e., develops from the egg through the larva and the pupa stages to the adult. ..... Click the link for more information. ). The importance of larvae in the life cycle of insects varies greatly, as does the proportion of the life span spent in larval, pupal, and adult stages. In many insects, the adult life is relatively short, consisting mostly of mating and egg laying, while the larvae live for many months or, in some species, for several years. Insect larvae feed voraciously, necessarily becoming larger than the adult, as considerable energy and material are needed for the profound changes made during pupation.

For this reason, insect larvae often cause far more damage to stored crops and textiles than adult insects. Insect larvae generally have a thinner exoskeleton than the adult; many are white and soft. The characteristic fly fly, name commonly used for any of a variety of winged insects, but properly restricted to members of the order Diptera, the true flies, which includes the housefly, gnat, midge, mosquito, and tsetse fly. ..... Click the link for more information. larvae are maggots, often developing in decaying plant or animal material. Mosquito larvae are the familiar aquatic wrigglers; they breathe air and are killed by a thin film of oil on the water that prevents contact with air. Maggots and wrigglers are legless, as are all larvae of the insect order Diptera. Beetle beetle, common name for insects of the order Coleoptera, which, with more than 300,000 described species, is the largest of the insect orders. Beetles have chewing mouthparts and well-developed antennae. ..... Click the link for more information.

larvae, including the whitish forms called grubs and the long brownish wireworms wireworm, elongate, cylindrical larva of the click beetle. Most wireworms are hard and brown, but members of some species are soft and whitish. Wireworms live in rotten wood or in the ground and feed on roots and seeds, injuring potatoes, grasses, and a wide variety of ..... Click the link for more information. , are quite diverse, but all are equipped with the six legs characteristic of adults. Moths moth, any of the large and varied group of insects which, along with the butterflies, make up the order Lepidoptera. The moths comprise the great majority of the 100,000 species of the order, and about 70 of its 80 families. ..... Click the link for more information. and butterflies butterfly, any of a large group of insects found throughout most of the world; with the moths, they comprise the order Lepidoptera. There are about 12 families of butterflies. Most adult moths and butterflies feed on nectar sucked from flowers. ..... Click the link for more information.

have wormlike caterpillars as larvae, each equipped with the six legs characteristic of adults and false legs known as prolegs to support the long abdominal section. Some, like the milkweed worm (the larva of the monarch butterfly), are relatively naked, while other caterpillars are covered by hairy bristles, sometimes equipped with irritating chemicals that can cause intense itching. The young of the social insects ( bees bee, name for flying insects of the superfamily Apoidea, in the same order as the ants and the wasps. Bees are characterized by their enlarged hind feet, typically equipped with pollen baskets of stiff hairs for gathering pollen. ..... Click the link for more information. , ants ant, any of the 2,500 insect species constituting the family Formicidae of the order Hymenoptera, to which the bee and the wasp also belong. Like most members of the order, ants have a "wasp waist," that is, the front part of the abdomen forms a narrow stalk, called the waist, ..... Click the link for more information. , wasps wasp, name applied to many winged insects of the order Hymenoptera, which also includes ants and bees.

Most wasps are carnivorous, feeding on insects, grubs, or spiders. They have biting mouthparts, and the females have stings with which they paralyze their prey. ..... Click the link for more information. , and termites termite or white ant, common name for a soft-bodied social insect of the infraorder Isoptera. Originally classified in as a separate order, termites are genetically related to cockroaches and are now usually classified with them in the order Blattodea. ..... Click the link for more information. ) are legless but otherwise grublike. Although all social-insect larvae are ultimately dependent on the parent colony for food, they are considered true larvae because they pass through a pupal stage. Larva a stage in the individual development of many invertebrates and some vertebrates (fishes and amphibians) in which the nutrient reserves of the egg are insufficient to complete embryonic development. An organism in the larval stage is self-sufficient. Usually it has special organs not characteristic of the adult form but lacks other organs characteristic of the adult.

In many animals, the existence of the larval stage is determined by the differences in the modes of life of the early stages of development and that of the adult stage; thus, the trochophore, characteristic of polychaetes and many mollusks, is free-swimming, but the adult form is benthic. The presence of a larva is sometimes associated with a change in habitat in the course of development. For example, many amphibian larvae are adapted to aquatic life, whereas the adult animals are adapted to dry land. In sessile or sluggish marine animals, a free-swimming larva ensures offspring distribution. This is true of the larvae of sponges and coelenterates (paren-chymula, amphiblastula, planula) and of echinoderms and enteropneusts (dipleurula). The metamorphosis of the larva to the adult animal consists in the restructuring of the larva’s organization; the more profound that restructuring, the greater will be the difference between the larva and the adult organism. The changes that occur in the metamorphosis of certain invertebrates (nemertines, echinoderms, and insects) are especially pronounced.

For example, in higher insects in the pupal stage (which follows the larval stage), almost all of the larval organs are destroyed. The organs of the adult animal are formed de novo from special rudiments called imaginal disks. The larvae of some animals retain the structural characteristics of ancestral forms. For example, phylogenetic significance of this sort is ascribed to the larvae of sponges and coelenterates (parenchymula, planula) and to the caudate larvae of ascidians, which resemble a free-swimming ancestor in structure. A. V. I

Question: The larva of the click beetle is called what?
Answer: Wireworm